Fairy's Fall
by UnisonRaid
Summary: A look into the first generation of Fairy Tail and the events surrounding Mavis's death
1. Prologue

_Recently I've been thinking a lot about the first generation of Fairy Tail, specifically its founders, and how Mavis died. This is the product of that thinking and is the first non-drabble fic I've written. Obviously it's set pre-canon, so Precht (Hades) isn't a villain and Warrod is a pretty calm guy. Since there's one other member of the co-founders and we know next to nothing about him, I took it upon myself to name him and give him a personality. I think that's all, so enjoy the prologue!_

* * *

**Prologue**

It was a late night in the guildhall. The majority of the members had left for their homes already, leaving only three people in the building.

"I've been thinking," the blonde girl sitting on the countertop stared at the floor in front of her, brow furrowed in deep concentration.

The man standing sitting on the barstool beside her laughed as he motioned for another drink. "Mavis, _thinking?_ Imagine that!" His laugh rang throughout the guild hall, and Mavis allowed herself a small smile.

"Very funny, Jonah," she rolled her eyes at her friend's teasing, shifting her position on the counter so she knocked over Jonah's refilled glass of beer. "Oops!" A giggle escaped her lips as the drink spilled onto his lap and he jumped up.

"Dammit! I just bought these pants too!" Jonah cursed, glaring at Mavis. He lunged toward her and she shrieked and jumped off the counter, yelling at the top of her lungs as he chased her around the guild hall. "Get back here, you runt! How are you so fast for someone so small?"

"You'll never catch the great Fairy Tactician!" Mavis declared, hopping up on a table and overturning multiple chairs in the process. She turned to face Jonah with her hands on her hips, tongue sticking out as she mocked him.

The man grunted as he tripped over a chair and crashed to the floor, Mavis's laughter echoing around him. Muttering curses under his breath as he stood up, Jonah caught Mavis unaware as she praised herself on being the 'Fairy Tactician' and tackled her to the ground. She squealed and thrashed around, trying to free herself.

"Let me go, you oaf!" He grunted as her knee found its way to his stomach. "Unhand me!"

"Never!" Jonah grinned, pulling at a piece of her hair. He was rewarded with a particularly loud screech in his ear, making him cringe and loosen his hold on her. Mavis wrenched an arm free and wrapped it around Jonah's neck, a dark expression on her face as she caught him in a strangle hold.

"Say uncle!"

"N-never!"

"_Say uncle!_"

"Warrod! Help a guy out- ow!" The victim of Mavis's harassment cut himself off as the hold on him disappeared and his head unceremoniously dropped to the floor. Bewildered at the sudden absence of his tormenter, the young wizard looked around the guild for his Master.

And finally spotted her sitting at the bar, happily kicking her feet and eating a piece cake Warrod placed in front of her.

Rubbing his head, Jonah slid onto the stool beside Mavis, glaring and rubbing his head. "Can I get some of that cake too?" he called to the man behind the counter.

A gasp came from the seat next to him. "No! Warrod! Don't let this buffoon have any of my cake!"

"_Buffoon?!_"

"It's not just your cake," Warrod spoke for the first time, setting a plate down in front of Jonah, who shot a smug look towards the girl next to him. Mavis let out an indignant huff. After a few seconds of silence, she reached her arm towards Jonah's plate, trying to stab his cake with her fork.

"Hey!" Her friend cried, snatching the plate away from her as she lost her balance and fell from her stool. "Eat your own cake!"

Grudgingly, Mavis climbed back up on her stool and ate her cake in silence, staring at the cake dejectedly. Jonah eyed her suspiciously for a moment then, satisfied that she wasn't going to try and steal his dessert again, began eating.

Behind the counter, Warrod chuckled to himself and shook his head at his friends' behavior. As much as they bickered and picked on each other in general, the two had an inseparable bond that not even the strongest force could break. But, they did tend to get on each others' nerves very often, so he decided to switch their focus on to something different.

"You said you were thinking about something, Mavis?" Jonah snorted and opened his mouth to say something, but a quick look from Warrod had him closing his mouth. If Jonah spoke again it would only be to get a rise out of Mavis and then they'd have to go through the whole process over again. Mavis blinked, looking up from her self-pitying with a look of surprise, as if just remembering what she was going to say.

"Oh yeah," she began, sitting up straighter. "I was thinking-" Jonah smirked to himself but wisely said nothing, "-that we all should go on a mission together!" She bounced in her seat, a bright smile spreading across her face. Mavis's mood was infectious, and as he cleared her plate away Warrod found himself smiling as well.

"We always go on missions together," Jonah waved his fork in the air, frowning at the suggestion. The four of them - Mavis, Warrod, Precht and himself - had just gone out two weeks ago to investigate activity of a few Dark Guilds. It was nothing they had to worry about, so there was little conflict, much to his disappointment, and they had completed it successfully.

An indignant huff was the reply to his statement. "A _fun_ mission, you dolt! No Dark Guilds, no criminals, no fighting, just a nice easy job. Maybe in a nice location so we can sightsee when we're done! What do you think, Warrod?" Mavis grinned, face glowing with the thought of a relaxing job.

"It sounds like a wonderful idea to me," the man in question nodded his assent, already looking over towards the request board for jobs matching what his Guild Master had in mind.

There was a loud _slam_ as the doors to the guildhall were thrown open and a figure rushed inside. The smallest form at the bar jumped in her seat before turning to face the disruption; drawing a breath to presumably yell at them. When she saw who it was, however, Mavis's annoyed expression dissipated and one of eagerness took its place.

"Precht! You're just in time! What do you think about an easy job? Maybe one near - hey, Warrod, what's the most exotic location on the list?"

"The island part of Fiore near Minstrel."

"Oh, I've never been there before! Don't you think it would be fun to do a job and then have a little vacation there, Precht?"

"How come you never asked me what I thought of this plan?" Jonah cut into Mavis's rambling irritably. An easy job with little fighting didn't sound _fun_ to him.

As Precht drew closer to the bar, Mavis's chatter died away as she saw the state he was in. The man in front of her was out of breath, hands on his knees, and smelled faintly of smoke.

"Precht?" Mavis's voice rose a few octaves in alarm. "What happened to you? You didn't have any jobs scheduled today, did you? Did he?" A look was cast at Warrod, who shook his head. "What happened?" She jumped down from the barstool, bare feet hitting the floor with a soft thud. "Precht, you're bleeding! Jonah, go get the medical kit, will you?"

Her guildmate nodded silently and moved towards the storerooms with a worried look at Precht. As he returned with the box of supplies, Warrod was dabbing at a cut on Precht's forehead with a damp towel and Mavis was standing behind him with concern etched into her features. The injured man winced as Warrod cleaned his wound, but said nothing and stayed still. Jonah silently handed the kit to Warrod, who placed it on the table and opened it. He murmured something to Mavis and the girl immediately snapped out of her reverie and hurried behind the bar. She reappeared with a glass of water and handed it to Precht, who took it gratefully and downed half the glass.

"Can you tell us what happened now?" The Guild Master's voice was strained, no doubt from the sight of her friend. She jumped up to sit on on the countertop closest to the table everyone was huddled around, giving her a full view of Precht's face and the rest of the guildhall.

The man in question nodded, taking one more sip of his drink. He grunted softly as Warrod tugged the bandage around his head and tied it off, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. Mavis was leaning forward as she watched him. Jonah thought she was going to die of anticipation. Warrod just quietly packed up the medical kit and kept an eye on Precht.

"I don't think we're going to be able to go on your vacation job, Mavis." Precht's spoke in a scratchy tone, and he cleared his throat before continuing. "The Dark Guild Bol Uffern has declared war on Fairy Tail."

* * *

_So, that's the prologue! Again, this is the first fic, besides a very small handful of drabbles, that I've written, so my apologies if it's a little...odd. I know it's pretty short, but it was just a little intro to get things started. Things are going to pick up next chapter so it should get a fair amount longer. Constructive criticism is encouraged :) _


	2. Summons to War

**Chapter 1: Summons to War**

"What?" Precht's audience sported matching faces of bewilderment. Warrod and Jonah shared a worried look, wondering what exactly Fairy Tail had done to warrant such harsh treatment. With a determined glint to her eyes, Mavis made the full switch from a concerned friend to guild master.

"What exactly happened? Tell us every detail, nothing left out," her voice cut through the tension in the room, clear and sure. Her face bore a mostly neutral expression, but all of the guild members present knew that she would drag the information of of Precht if she had to. Which, thankfully, she didn't.

Precht shifted in his seat, clasping his hands on the table in front of him. "I knew I didn't have any official requests lined up for today so I went to go talk with the Council representatives at the temporary station near Onibus. Except when I got there, there was no station. The entire camp was gone. The tents, the people, the carts, there was nothing. It was all gone. Burned to a crisp."

_That explains the smoke then,_ Jonah frowned but kept his thoughts to himself. _But what about-_

"Were you attacked? You were bleeding." Mavis motioned to the bandage around Precht's head. Fighting the urge to smirk, Jonah shook his head. Leave it to that girl to voice his exact thoughts.

"Yeah," the injured man nodded, scratching the back of his neck. "I started to search the woods near the camp. They must've left a member behind incase someone came sniffing around. Guess I walked right into that one." He gave a short bark of laughter before continuing. "Long story short, they ambushed me, I blacked out and woke up tied to a tree. Took me a while to get myself untied, especially with a bleeding head wound. I guess they cut me when they attacked me," he finished with a shrug.

The room was silent as the occupants took in what Precht had said. The latter sat idly, sipping his drink.

Finally the guild master spoke up. "You said the entire camp was annihilated?" Precht nodded. The girl frowned, a concerned expression crossing her face. "The enemy is a strong one then. A camp full of wizards from Era is no weak force." There was a slight pause before Mavis continued. "Precht, what exactly makes you say that they want to start a war with Fairy Tail?" Her expression was now one of thoughtful curiosity, although her eyes retained their worry.

The man's eyes widen slightly and he began patting his pockets. "How could I forget?" He grumbled, then triumphantly pulled a small spice of paper out o f his pocket and offered it to Mavis with a grave look. She took it gently and turned it over warily. As she studied its contents her face paled and she handed the slip over to Warrod. The Green Magic user looked at the paper himself and frowned before giving the note to Jonah. The final member of the present group glanced at the paper in his hands and frowned.

Fairy Tail's guild crest was crudely drawn on the one side, but it was still easily recognized as the guild's symbol. A dark slash was smeared across it diagonally, and odd runes were scrawled at the top of the page. Jonah narrowed his eyes, bringing the note closer to his face then pulling it away. He repeated the process several times, muttering under his breath, before grunting in frustration and turning towards Mavis.

"All right, since apparently everyone likes to forget that I can't read runes for the life of me, care to explain what this says?" He waved the paper around and laid it on the counter next to Mavis, who picked it up and stared blankly at the inked side. Her fingers traced the runes as she looked at Jonah.

"To put it simply, it's a curse. Not like a magical curse, mind you," she added after seeing the bewildered expressions on her guild mates' faces. "It's not like the ones you read about in fairy tales-" she smiled wryly at her own use of words "-but more easily compared to a promise or oath. They're basically swearing to get revenge on us. Of course, that's a very rough translation, I'll have to find the Boscan dictionary to properly translate it later. It's kind of odd , the runes are in old Boscan, but the enemy guild's name is written in the common language of Seven," Mavis trailed off, lost in her own thoughts.

Warrod cleared his throat, bringing Mavis back to the conversation at hand. "Oh! Sorry, I got a little off topic there didn't I?" She smiled sheepishly. "Bol Uffern of the name of the enemy guild, and I' m certain it's from Seven. Who is Bol Uffern and why do they want to start a guild war? I don't recall ever even meeting a Bol Uffern guild. What does that even mean anyway, _Bol Uffern_?" The girl cut off her ramble to make a mental note to herself to look up _Bol Uffern_ when she went to translate the runes.

There was a sharp noise as a hand met the wooden countertop. "Bol Uffern was the name of one of the guilds we investigated the other week!" exclaimed Jonah eagerly. "Remember? They were a part of the smuggling trade going on at the borders of Fiore, Bosco, and Seven. After we did some research it was decided that they weren't active in the ring, but we informed the authorities about the non-magic guilds that _were_ involved." He paused for a moment, glancing at Mavis. "I guess we were wrong about their involvement." The guild master winced at the word _wrong_ but said nothing. "Why else would they declare war on us? We broke up their source of income and now they want revenge. It's the most logical explanation."

Precht kept his gaze focused on the table in front of him and grunted in agreement, Warrod simply nodded. "It makes sense. Smuggling rings and slave traders usually hire some form of magic users as bodyguards. The Bol Uffern guild is most likely associated with the part of the ring located in Seven and originates there, but crossed the border to Bosco for work."

"They would keep their involvement on the down-low, of course, so down-low that a group of wizards who should have noticed their involvement just looked right over it because they were stupid enough not to investigate further." Mavis's voice was bitter with self-loathing and her face was contorted into a pained expression. The men in the room shared looks with each other - they all knew that the Fairy Tactician hated to be wrong.

A sigh brought them back to the girl at hand. She sat up straighter and a ghost of a smile played on her lips. "It's okay though, because we all know it was Jonah's fault we were rushing."

"_What?_" Jonah groaned. "Why is it always my fault, how come it's never Warrod's or Precht's fault?"

"I don't know," she said, turning to him. "It's just your fault."

Even though he knew his friend was teasing, Warrod, ever the peacemaker, stepped in. "Now we have a culprit and a motive. I'll accompany you to the library if you need any help, Mavis."

"Oh, would you? Another person would be great for research, and I wouldn't want to take either of these two illiterate imbeciles along," she grinned, sliding off the countertop and hooked her arm in Warrod's the best she could. "Do you have anymore cake?" She asked as they turned to make their way to the guild's library.

"_Hey!_" The two illiterate imbeciles protested in unison, sending matching glares at the duo as they walked deeper into the guild hall. "Aren't you going to say something Warrod?" Precht called after them.

The Green Magic user just raised a hand and waved it in farewell, opting not to say anything. The remaining two members shared a look and sulked for a few moments, each grumbling to themselves. The bench he was sitting on creaked as Precht turned to face Jonah, a wicked look in his eye. "Bet you still can't beat me in a fight."

Jonah scoffed. "I'm not going to fight an injured man, Precht."

"You won't, or are you just too afraid that you'll get your ass handed to you by and injured man?"

"You have a head wound, I'm not fighting you. Warrod and Mavis would kill me."

Precht made chicken noises.

"Fine! That's it, you are so on!"

— ❇ —

"I found the Fioran to Boscan dictionary," Warrod called from where he stood on the opposite side of the library from Mavis. He jumped as a loud crash echoed throughout the room and rushed over to where Mavis was, a worried look on his face. "Mavis! Are you- what are you doing?"

The girl was on top of a pile of books, upside down and looking dazed. She righted herself and rubbed her head, glaring at the shelf behind her. "I was _trying_ to reach a book on one of the higher shelves," she informed him, rummaging through the pile. "But the shelf rocked the wrong way and the books fell out and then _I _ fell, but luckily the whole shelf didn't fall on top of me." Mavis stood up and brushed herself off, taking the dictionary from Warrod and plopping herself down on the floor.

Warrod began picking up the books on the floor and putting them in their correct places. Curiously, he glanced up and down the aisle with a frown. "How exactly were you getting to this high shelf? I don't see a ladder anywhere."

Incoherent mumbles came from his companion and she shuffled through the pages of the dictionary. "What was that?" Warrod asked, putting his hand to his ear. "I'm afraid I can't hear you." A smirk spread across his face as he anticipated his guild master's response.

A sharp glare was directed at him and Mavis ground out; "I _said_, I was climbing up the shelves. I didn't use a ladder!"

As he placed another book on the shelf, Warrod clucked his tongue and shook his head. "What did I tell you about doing that, Mavis? Someday you could get seriously hurt doing that. I thought you were smarter than that."

The only warning he got was the scuffle of leather on the floor before a book whacked into the side of his head. He had been anticipating it though, and merely burst out laughing at the reaction he had known was coming.

"Oh, shut up! Not like you've never done it before!" Mavis said indignantly. Wisely, Warrod said nothing, even though she was the only one to ever attempt the feat. With a huff, she returned to her book, gesturing to a page. "Anyway, while _somebody_ was too busy poking fun at others' faults, I found the translation for _Bol Uffern_."

Warrod paused in his restocking of the shelves and moved over to Mavis, peering down at the page she was open to. "What does it mean?"

"Well, _bol_ translates to "belly" and _uffern_ to "hell" so a rough translation of Bol Uffern would be "the belly of hell." Interesting name for a magic guild," Mavis mused, skimming her fingers over the cover of the book thoughtfully.

"For a legal guild, yes. For a dark guild? Not so much," Warrod muttered, returning to his task. "What do you think the name has to do with their declaration of war?"

Mavis blinked and looked up at him. "Honestly, nothing. I was just curious about what it meant," she said with a cheeky smile.

"You know what they say, curiosity killed the cat."

"But it makes the fairy stronger," she finished her revised version of the old saying with a laugh. She couldn't remember when she first came up with the addition to the phrase; probably sometime when one of the boys made a teasing jab at her for knowing so much information. But somehow it had stuck and now was a normal quote in their guild.

Pushing herself to her feet and stretching, Mavis set the dictionary down on a table and helped her friend finish putting the books back on the self. "Since the tome on old Boscan runes isn't in the ancient language section, I'm going to go check over here," she called over her shoulder after they had finished.

"Okay," Warrod responded, moving to go back towards the self he had found the dictionary in. "I'll keep looking over here." A shout of acknowledgment came from across the library and he resumed his task.

Mavis hummed to herself as she scanned up and down the aisle she was in. In the few short years it had been active, Fairy Tail had accumulated a surprisingly large amount of book on just about every subject. Many of the ones they first started out with had come from the founders' personal collections, mainly hers and Warrod's. But slowly they had collected even more from various jobs and shops and even a few donors until they had a small library. Their collection wasn't as grand as some, but she had anticipated there would be more to add as the guild grew and therefore had a large room built for the library.

"This is going to take too long," she murmured to herself. They had no idea when Bol Uffern would make their first move, and they needed to have all the information possible on the guild. There wasn't enough time to look up and down every aisle and shelf for a dusty old book.

An idea worming its way into her head, Mavis darted to the end of the end and peered around the corner of the shelf, watching and listening for Warrod. Satisfied that he wouldn't interfere with her plan, she moved back between the bookshelves and planted her feet firmly. Drawing in a breath and closing her eyes, Mavis let herself feel the magic flowing in her.

She held an arm out in front of her fingers splayed and pointing upward. A light began to glow above her as she moved her wrist in a circle and raised her arm above her head. " S hining Rain!" Her eyes opened and a magic circle appeared in the space above her. Magic pulsed and bulged before plummeting downwards, ready to burst as soon as it touched something solid. "Stop!" Mavis voice was strong and sure as she commanded the spell. Her magic slowed and came to a halt around eye level, a multitude of softly glowing balls suspended in the air. Keeping her right arm raised, Mavis swung her left arm out in front of her. She made a motion with her index and middle fingers together and the droplets moved and joined into larger bubbles. Satisfied with the size of the magic, Mavis stared into one.

From looking into one bubble she could see what was reflected in all of them, so long as the bubbles were large enough. She rotated her left index finger and the magic inside the bubble swirled, showing her another section of the aisle. Repeating the process over and over was a bit boring, but the this way was much faster than searching for the tome by her sight alone. It was, however, a fair amount more dangerous, for if the magic bubble came in contact with any surface other than air or Mavis they would explode on impact. After one unfortunate mishap she was banned from using the technique in the guild hall, but she decided to overrule that verdict this one time.

"Found it!" She cried, reaching forward with her left hand. She gently touched the bubble in front of her and closed her right fist. The bubbles wavered in the air before dissipating into a shower of light. With a smile Mavis grabbed the ladder closest to her and wheeled it down the aisle until she reached the part of the shelf she wanted. The girl climbed up the ladder and snagged the correct book, jumping back down to hurry over to where her companion was.

Warrod looked up from where he stood in the library to see Mavis excitedly making her way towards him. "Warrod, look what I've got!" she cheered, waving the old book in the air. He raised an eyebrow at her antics. The tome was large and looked like it was heavy, yet Mavis raised it above her head like it was nothing. "Come on, come _on_, let's go find a table!" She bounced up and down excitedly then darted off, not bothering to wait for her companion.

When Warrod reached the table Mavis already had the book flipped open and was paging through it. The man stood behind her and watched over her shoulder silently, letting his guild master find what she needed.

She alternated between humming and making odd noises here and there as she looked through the tome. The tune she hummed now sounded vaguely familiar to him, and he tried to recall where he had heard it. Finally he placed it; it was the song she had sung softly months ago, when they were researching dead languages and ancient spells, much like the situation they were in now. Which reminded him-

"I finished rewording the last part of the _Aeternam Anim__u__m _ spell," his voice was low and almost inaudible. Her fingers came to an abrupt halt in their skimming of the pages and for a second she was frozen. But the moment passed and was over before Warrod could blink. Mavis resumed what she had been doing, frowning and turning to a new chapter in the old book.

After a few seconds she spoke, "That's fantastic." She tried to keep her tone neutral but it came out slightly clipped and Warrod could sense the hidden tension.

He looked at her with a sigh and continued. "Are you sure it's a good idea? There are countless flaws in the spell and who knows how it will turn out? I'm sure we can think of another way. If we talk to Precht and Jonah they can he-"

"You know this is the best option." She cut him off sharply and refused to meet his gaze. "We can't tell them and we won't tell them, right? You _promised_, Warrod. Lumen Histoire needs to be maintained and it's connected to my life force. It's too powerful to be left unattended and if something were to happen to me it would spell disaster for everyone. You know this."

"Yes, but what if the spell doesn't work like we think it will? It's centuries old, and if anything goes wrong who knows what will happen to your soul. You could be stuck in a purgatory forever, or worse, your soul could vanish completely!" Warrod's voice rose slightly and he felt a surge of panic come over him.

"It's a risk I'm willing to take. Besides, it's only a last ditch option anyway, right?" She smiled up at him. "By the time I'm old and frail we'll have figured out something to take care of Lumen Histoire. Then we won't need _Aeternam Animum_. But if some freak accident happens we need to be prepared. What if Jonah accidentally poisons me with that awful dessert of his?" Warrod gave her a disapproving look at her joke, and she continued quickly; " As long as my spirit still exists Lumen Histoire exists and is stable and can be utilized in a time of dire need. And trust me, I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon," she finished with an affirmative nod. "I've got you to fall back on anyway, and, paired with those two other goons, I'm sure you won't let anything happen to me, right?" She wagged her finger at him teasingly.

"I still don't like it. Even if it does work, you're going to be all alone."

"You don't have to like it. I never said you did. But you have a tad more sense than Jonah and Precht when it comes to things like this. They would never accept the idea, let alone help me find the spell and piece it back together."

"My sense of the greater good is going to keep my friend's soul stuck here," Warrod's voice was flat.

"It'll never come to that. Now, let's go! I found some information about the writing on the note. Hopefully the two goons haven't done anything rash in the time we've been gone," Mavis mused, getting up from the table and carrying the tome out of the library. Warrod stood alone for a few seconds, thinking about the _Aeternam Animum _ spell before shaking his head and following Mavis out.

— ❇ —

"_What have you done to my guild hall?!_"

Warrod winced at the near scream and cast a sympathetic look towards where both Precht and Jonah lay sprawled on the floor, broken bits of furniture strewn around them. Tables were overturned, chairs and benches were out of place, and there were various scratches and cuts and scorches in the wood making up the room.

"You _idiots!_" Mavis stormed over to the two unconscious men, a furious expression on her face. "We leave the room for a second and this is what you do? Do you realize how much this is going to cost? Wake up, you _imbeciles!_" She was sitting on Precht's chest and was vigorously shaking his shoulders. With a groan he came to, only to be dropped as she moved on to her next target. "Hey, you, time to face the music!" Mavis shouted at Jonah, aiming a kick towards him.

Warrod knew she wasn't doing anything to seriously hurt them - anymore than they already were, anyway - but he still cringed inwardly as she unleashed her wrath. Mavis Vermillion was usually a sweet and joking individual, but if her bad side as provoked a whole new persona was unleashed. Not that he blamed her for being upset; they _had_ done quite a number on the guild hall.

Six bowls of ice cream, five rather large bruises, four beers, two apologies and a whole lot of shouting later, everything had finally calmed down. They sat at the bar with Warrod behind it, keeping a careful eyes on his guild mates to make sure they wouldn't start fighting again. But everything appeared to be going well; Mavis was on her seventh bowl of ice cream - he made a mental note to buy more - and Jonah and Precht were sharing rueful looks as they each drank from a mug of ale.

"I still don't understand why you had to freak out like that," Jonah muttered, tilting his glass back and finishing it off.

"There are many things you don't understand, but the list is too long for me to name," Mavis quipped without looking at him, focused on scraping the last bit of melted ice cream out of her bowl. "Just pay off the damage and fix what needs to be repaired and we'll put the whole thing behind us." The smile she shot the troublemakers was sweet, but her eyes glittered dangerously and both culprits grimaced and turned away.

Pushing her bowl to the side and climbing up to sit on the countertop, Mavis cleared her throat. "Besides, we have more important matters to attend to anyway."

"It's past midnight, can't this wait for tomorrow?" Precht asked, giving her a tired look.

She beamed at him, and the malice in her look wasn't missed. "No, actually. And I think if you have the energy to get into an all out brawl and destroy the guild hall, then you can _certainly_ listen to what I have to say."

The guild master pulled the tome from the library over to her and opened it to the page she bookmarked with the note from Bol Uffern. The atmosphere in the room immediately grew serious as everyone leaned just a little closer to Mavis. She took the note from the book and placed it on the counter beside her, pointing to the slash across the guild's symbol.

"Obviously seeing the guild crest slashed isn't a good sign. It's the simplest way to display ill will across languages, and that's all there really is to it. The line pointing down and to the left is supposed to bring misfortune to those affiliated with the guild, but there really isn't any other meaning than that.

"The runes are to be taken a little more seriously than the line. If the line is a warning, then the runes are what we really have to worry about. They aren't meant to be translated together, it wouldn't form a sentence, just gibberish. So I translated them separately and, well, you can get the general gist of the message."

She laid another piece of paper down next to the original note. It had the Boscan words and their Fioran equivalents. Down the left side were the Boscan words "terra," "inferno," "distruggere," "fata," and "morte." Across from its respective translation were the Fioran words "land," "hell," "destroy," "fairy," and "death."

The men studied the paper for a few seconds and Precht whistled lowly. "They're not too happy with us, are they?"

"Not at all," Mavis agreed. She picked up the note from Bol Uffern. "And what really seals the deal is the medium the line is drawn in. They obviously had access to ink; the rest of the letter is written in it. But the line is drawn in something else."

Precht glanced at the note again and frowned. "Blood? Damn it, they used _my_ blood to sent a threat to _my_ guild?" He swore angrily, putting a hand to the bandages on his head.

"A blood pact," Warrod said grimly. If the whole note wasn't already bad enough, the blood pact made it ten times worse. "Blood pacts are a big deal in some other countries, like Seven and Bosco. The practice died out in Fiore a long time ago, but I guess it's still relevant in other parts of Earthland."

"So they curse us, wish death upon us, and swear to make sure it comes true," Jonah muttered with a frown. "They're pretty serious."

"Slavers are a pretty serious bunch. They don't take their jobs lightly, and neither do the people they hire to work for them. We ruined their livelihood, no matter how terrible it was, and exposed them. They'll do anything to get back at us," Mavis supplied.

The room was silent for a few minutes as each person mulled over the contents of the conversation. Precht swirled the last of his ale in his glass, staring off blankly. Mavis had her gaze focused on the floor while she kicked her feet absentmindedly. Warrod collected the empty dishes and tried not to think about the _ Aeternam Animum _ spell and the imminent war looming over their guild. To his dismay, he could think of no way to avoid Bol Uffern's threat.

"Another war it is, then," Warrod sighed.

"And here I thought I was done with mercenary business," Precht laughed humorlessly. "Joined a guild to stop fighting in wars and here we are starting a war."

"If you thought joining a guild would get you out of battling other people, you need a reality check," Jonah reprimanded. "Guilds start wars between each other all the time, not to mentioned when we're hired be actual armies. A lot of things changed those years you were away. Hell, Mavis only earned her title as Fairy Tactician because of the wars we've fought."

Mavis closed the tome with a slam, a strange expression on her face. "They were hardly wars, Jonah. Battles and skirmishes are more like it." She looked at her guild mates and hopped down from the counter. "Bol Uffern is most likely still in the area. I'm sure they only sent a small force to take out the Council camp, so they'll be heading back to wherever the rest of the guild is to regroup in order to fight us. I say the four of us leave tomorrow to track the small force back to the main group. From there we can gather information on them and prepare for what's to come. We can tell the rest of the guild in the morning about Bol Uffern and warn them to prepare for a battle between guilds."

The other members nodded their assent of her plan. Mavis began walking towards the door of the guild and the others followed her, turning off lights and locking things up on their way.

"I'll see you in the morning. Get some rest, tomorrow we go hunting," Mavis informed. Jonah snickered and ruffled her hair, making his way down one street with Precht. The girl grumbled at his actions but said nothing and turned to walk with Warrod to their shared apartments.

Halfway down the street Precht felt something hit the back of his head. "What was that for?" He asked, scowling at Jonah.

"Huh? I didn't do anything," the other man responded, raising his hands defensively.

"No, something definitely smacked me, and it had to be you."

"Or that."

Precht turned around, a curious expression on his face. He saw what Jonah was pointing at; a small ball of light hovered in front of him. He reached out and snatched it, then immediately regretted the action.

"_And don't you two fools even _think_ about fighting again tonight, or tomorrow for that matter! If I hear of any more damage caused by you two, you'll be on escort jobs for six months! No, Warrod, I do not think that's too much, they need to learn. But if I even hear of you scratching _paint_ off of a _doorframe_ I'll have your heads for it! _Understand!?"

The partners shared a look, knowing from experience that Mavis was serious about demoting them, sighed, and carried on home.

* * *

**A/N:** _Ah! The first chapter! Sorry this took so long to get up, but my updates are going to be very sporadic and I don't see that changing anytime soon, if at all_

_This hasn't been read by a beta, just me quickly skimming and fixing some things, so if you see any mistakes feel free to inform me ^^ _

_What do you think? Comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated!~_


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